This invention relates generally to computer implemented methods for processing data items of a business attribute and more particularly for processing data items from different sources of a common business attribute.
As is known in the art, many financial institutes, such as brokerage or investment firms, receive and report various types of financial information from a large number of businesses. For example, one business may be a publicly held corporation which issues equity instruments of various kinds, such as common and preferred stock and/or debt instruments of various types, such as bonds of various types. Another business may be a government which issues debt instruments such as bonds, notes and/or bills. Still another business may be a mutual fund which makes distributions from time to time. Information providers, i.e., vendors, may provide financial information relating to these businesses to its clients. This information, herein collectively referred to a business attribute, may relate to a financial instrument or a business action. For example, in the case of a financial instrument, a business attribute may include the instrument's annual yield, annual dividend, maturity date, CUSIP, etc., and in the case of a business action may include an identification of the business, i.e., company, corporation, mutual fund or government reporting the business action, the date a quarterly dividend is to be paid, the amount of the quarterly dividend, and the record ownership date for payment of the quarterly dividend.
As is also known in the art, the vendors may report this financial information to the brokerage or investment firm electronically through modems. Further, each vendor may electronically provide its information in a format unique to that vendor. Further, some of the vendors may use different terminology, format or style for the same data item. Also, there may be differences in the data for the same data item. In order to resolve these differences, or discrepancies, significant human intervention, at significant cost and delay, is required to distinguish between genuine data discrepancies and mere differences in terminology, format or style.